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STUDY OF CALIFORNIA GEOGRAPHY. 

BY CHARLES RUSSELL CLARKE. 

A Lecture delivered before the State Teachers' Institute, in San Francisco, California, September 20, 1S65. 



The proposition that California Geograpliy 1 
should be studied in our schools hardly admits j 
of dispute. What we need, therefore, upon this i 
point, would seem to be, not argument, but mo- 
tive. And the motives to the introduction of 
this study into our schools are not far to seek. ! 
One of the most obvious of them is, the advance- 
ment of our pupils in the knowledge of geo- 
graphy in general. Tlie geography of the State 
includes the geography of every neighborhood 
in the State, and consequently this study must 
prepare any pupil in any district to enter upon 
the study of some foreign objects, at least, with 
a better understanding. The child of the moun- 
tains will understand Scotland better, and the 
child of the sea-shore will better appreciate Chili 
or Portugal. But the study of home geography 
will not only improve the understandings of our 
pupils, but their hearts. It will deepen their 
love of country. The purity and dignity of this 
afl'ection, as we know, have commanded in all 
time the noblest tributes of the Muses. But it 
is an affection capable of development. And 
one of the surest means, it seems to me, of pro- 
moting that development is the study of the 
country in its natural features. I believe the 
true genesis of love of country in a thousand in- 
stances to be the following: knowledge pro- 
duced interest, and interest merged in affection. 
If knowledge had been lacking, there would have 
been no interest and no love. But possibly this 



is too sentimental a view of the subject to com- 
mand much attention. Possibly even the glori- 
ous history of the past four years has not fully 
taught us the value of a deep affection for the 
country. If so, it will be easy to take another 
step, and to show that this study must promote 
the usefulness of our pupils. It must prepare 
our pupils to serve California better, especially 
in public life and in business Ufe. Among the 
boys at present in our schools are the future ex- 
ecutives, lawmakers, and judges of the State. 
That these classes of our citizens should be con- 
versant with the locahties and interests of the 
State is important in the extreme. But a proper 
knowledge of such a subject is one that begins 
early, and thus enjoys a long period for natural 
expansion and correction. A public functionary 
who is obliged to cram, (as the phrase is) at the 
eleventh hour, wiU hardly possess a very correct 
or profound body of knowledge respecting such 
a State as California — a State which counts its 
degrees, both of latitude and of longitude, by the 
decimal system! So, too, in business life. In 
our schools are the future merchants, manufac- 
turers, and ship-owners of the State, whose 
ability to develop her resources will depend 
largely upon their personal knowledge — a knowl- 
edge which must be very defective unless com- 
menced early and allowed to grow naturally 
through years of reading, reflection, observation, 
and conversation. 



THE STUDY OF CALIFORNIA GEOGRAPHY. 



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WHAT IS GOOD TEACHmG? 

But, now, if the branch is taught in our schools, 
it ought to be taught properly. All must con- 
cede this : and, hence, we may pass at once to 
the question, "Wherein consists proper instruc- 
tion m California geography? The science of 
teaching may not yet have been pushed to its 
ultimate limits. But the great ends of intellec- 
tual education are well defined. Our ofSce as 
teachers is twofold — to communicate knowledge 
and to develop the powers. We are familiar 
with the analogy of the human body. The 
mind also requires both food and action, both 
diet and exercise, to its full development. The 
question, then, of how California geography 
should be taught is easily answered from the 
science of education in general. It should be 
taught so as to answer at once these two great 
ends — instruction and disci plme — tlie communi- 
cation of knowledge and the quickening of the 
powers. 

INSTnUCTIO>f IN GEOGRAPHY. 

With respect to the communication of knowl- 
edge upon the subject of State geography, you 
will readily anticipate all I have to say. The 
pupils of every California .chool should be tausht, 
in reference lo the State, solid facis and figures, 
and plenty of them. They should learn the 
great natural features of the State, its mountain 
ranges and peaks, its capes and vaheys, its 
rivers, its cataracts, and its bays. They should 
become familiar with its political facts, also — its 
boundaries and population, its counties, cities 
towns, and resources. The fact is that too much 
of the current knowledge of this State is what 
may be called sentimental, poeticnl, or oratorical 
— any thing but practical, sound, and detailed. 
The sum of this knowledge is that California is 
a great State, decidedly ! that gold abounds here, 
as also silver, with all the other known metals, 
and certainly tliose that are unknown ! that pe- 
troleum trickles from every rock, and that if it 
has never been exported in cans made from our 
own large tin mines, it is probably owing to 
some insane desire of foreign capitahsts to break 
down the Specific Contract Law 1 Such knowl- 
edge of the State may do for the stump, but not 
for the counting-room or the school-room. I 
■would have, then, first of all, a mass of valuable, 
trustworthy facts respecting California conveyed 



to the children of California. Nothing ought to 
be allowed to prevent or displace this portion 
of our work in teaching geography properly. 

DEVELOPING MENTAL POWERS. 

But our work ought not to stop with the com- 
munication of knowledge. We must train the 
powers of our pupils. We must so use this geo- 
graphical material as to give our pupils mental 
muscle, as to sensitize (to borrow a word from the 
photographers) their mentul nerves, as to pro- 
mote their mental endurance. But hero I have 
found myself somewhat at a loss. Among the 
multitude of powers, faculties, and habits which 
may be formed or improved by this study, which 
shall I choose for the present hour? I have 
finally settled upon these two — the sense of fitness 
and the habit of oonneding cause and effect. The 
grounds on which these powers have been 
chosen, in preference to otliers, to illustrate the 
developing use of California geography, may 
easily be stated. In tlio fiist pL.ce, they serve 
to illustrate that use remarkably well. They do 
so because they are boih of them powers best 
developed by the use of familiar material, and 
this is the very material which comprises Cali- 
fornia geography. For instance, we may culti- 
vate the sen.se of fitness by drawing attention to 
congruities between things and their names. 
The two points at the entrance of the Golden 
Gate are Points Lobos r;nd Bonita. The notion 
of congruity will be drawn out in the child by 
explaining to him that these names belong re- 
spectively to a beast (the seal) and a fish (the 
rAickerel) very common in the neighborhood of 
those points. But to repeat this process of 
tracing harmonics between things and names 
sufficiently often to produce much effect upon 
the child's habits, we need to deal with familiar 
material, where we possess much detailed 
knowledge. And so it is with the habit of con- 
necting cause and effect. Here, too, we need 
constant repetition, if we would have our pupils 
catch the infection. And repetition we can 
have — causes and effects can be linked together 
continually — where we are handling material 
and phenomena immediately around us, and with 
whose various relations we can readily make 
ourselves extensively familiar. 

Another reason for choosing these two 
powers to illustrate the higher uses of home 
geography is found in the great twofold divi- 



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THE STUDY OF CALIFORNIA GEOGRAPHY. 



sion of our piipils into male and female. The 
first of these powers — the instinct of propriety — 
is the glory of the female mind; the second — 
the habit of connecting cause and effect — is the 
glory of the male mind. We will show the 
adaptation of the study of home geography to 
the culture of all our scholars ; then, if we show 
that, it wields a developing control over these 
two faculties. 

But a third reason for selecting these two 
powers is f6und in their peculiar relations to 
one another. It is an interesting point to notice 
that not a few geographical facts may be made 
to exert an educating power upon both these 
faculties at once. Take the names Placer and 
El Dorado, for example. These names the child 
learns, as well as the fact that gold is mined in 
, the counties to which they belong. There are 
his facts. But explain to him what the names 
signify, and you suggest to him the notion of 
cause and effect, and that of congruity, in the 
same breath. He sees that the export has pro- 
duced the name — here are cause and effect ; and 
he sees that a county with such an export may 
well bear such a name — and here is fitness. 
Many of our facts, therefore, admit of being so 
used as to develop both these powers simulta- 
neously. And of the rest, very many may be 
used to' develop one of these powers, if not the 
other. Some will satisfy the sense of propriety, 
if not the rational faculty. The name " Golden 
Gate " may not have been given to the strait 
because it led to a land of gold, but yet it pos- 
sesses an eminent degree of present fitness 
Other names suggest cause and effect, but not 
fitness. Thus the name MarysviUe is traced to 
an early lady resident of that city, but no spe- 
cial harmony has been noticed between the 
name and the place. I have selected these 
powers, therefore, to exemplify the present sub- 
ject, for what seem to nvj vaUd reasons, and not 
at all at random. 



THE SENSE OF FITNESS. 

But possibly at this point an important ques- 
tion presses to be answered. This sense of fit- 
ness — of what value is it? The answer is easy. 
This very sense is, perhaps, the most important 
element of all refinement and culture, both of 
manners and of taste. It should be fostered, 
especially in the female pupil, because it is the 
inexhaustible fountain of amenity in social life 



and taste among the products of art. It is the 
source of amenity in social life. Almost all the 
common manifestations of ill-breeding proceed 
from a defect in the guilty party in this sense of 
the fitness of things — the harmony of times, 
places, words, deeds, and persons. Taste in art, 
also, consists largely of the instinct of fitness. 
Both mental philosophers and rhetoricians unite 
in placing propriety or fitness among the fore- 
most elements of beauty, and consequently in 
making taste, or the sense of the beautiful, 
almost identical with, the sense of fitness or pro- 
priety. This sense, therefore, may be confident- 
ly claimed as one of the leading elements of all 
true culture, both of manners and of taste. But 
does it need proof that such culture is 
valuable, especially in woman ? Is it not the 
special minis:;ry of woman to surround herself 
with all that is fair, and breathe forth from her- 
self all that is gentle? But, how can she enrobe 
herself in beauty, if she have not the instincts 
of beauty ? How can she breathe forth gentle- 
ness if she have not an instinct of the gentle ? 
Can our time, then, ■fee lost in developing taste 
and amenity in woman ? in developing these 
by training that instinct of the fitness of things 
which is their common root ? 

TRAINING THE SENSE OF FITNESS. 

Anotlier question now recurs. Allowing it to 
be true that this acquisition is of importance, 
how may it be furtliered in the study of homo 
geography? I have already noticed one of tho 
methods. We m,)y call attention to the con- 
gruities which present themselves between 
things and their names. There is a general fit- 
ness, for example, in the fact that one of the 
counties of the State bears the honored name of 
Humboldt — a fitness arising from the fact that 
he was the first great naturalist who imdertook 
a minute and scientific investigation of any part 
of the western coast of the Western Continen t. 
A more special and local fitness appears in the 
naming of other counties and towns. For 
example, the most northern coast county is 
named Del Norte, and the beautiful Clear Lake 
is allowed to give name to Lake County. But 
the harmonies of names form but one class of 
those to which we may call the pupil's attention. 
We may often point out, for example, a suitable- 
ness in the location of pubhc institutions. In- 
deed, such suitableness is obvious in connection 



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THE STUDY OF CALIFORNIA GEOGRAPHY. 



-with nearly all the public institutions of Califor- 
nia. That the Capital is located at Sacramento 
is proper, in view of the central position of that 
city, its easy accessibility from every quarter, 
its neighborhood to the great mining interest of 
the State, and its removal from the possible cor- 
rilptions of the metropolis. The Arsenal is well 
placed at Benicia, because of the central position 
of the town, and its nearness to the great artery 
of the interior navigation of the State, by 
means of which men and arms can easily be 
transported in any direction. The Insane Asy- 
lum, also, occupies no incongruous position at 
Stockton, because that is a point reached by 
water from the great centres of population, and 
also situated upon alluvial soil — circumstances, 
both of them, favoring the sensitive nervous 
condition of the insane. Congruities, therefore, 
may be found in the material of California geo- 
graphy — congruities between things and names, 
and also between institutions and their sites. 
And these may be used by the teacher to 
awaken a sense of the fitness of things in the 
pupil. 

But this sense may be quickened not only by 
a perception of congruities, but of incongruities. 
We may do good to our pupils by challenging 
their criticism of instances of unfitness and dis- 
cord in geographical names. Such discord 
appears in too many of our county names. It 
is a curious fact that Mount Shasta is not in 
Shasta County ; the Marysville Buttes are not in 
Butte County ; Lassen's Peak is not in Lassen 
County ; and Cape Mendocino is not in Mendo- 
cino County. The same dissonance is observable 
in the names of towns as well as counties. A 
notable instance of this appears in the case of a 
town on the edge of Suisun Bay — a town which 
consists of a single coal-shed, and yet which 
bears the pretentious name of the New York of 
the Pacific ! But these! unsuitable names we 
have given not merely to our own work — to 
counties and towns — but to tlie works of 
nature. And here we need not travel far to 
find illustrations. The hills of San Francisco I 
could names have been found more meanly inap- 
propriate as permanent designations of these 
interesting and endeared objects ? Perhaps the 
earthquakes that we feel are the writhings of 
these hills as they hear their names uttered by 
inconsiderate souls in tones too loud ! Rincon 
Hill — the hill near the rincon, or point 1 Tele- 
graph HUl — ^where the old semaphore was! 



Russian Hill — where a colgny of Russians 
once encamped 1 And, worst of all, the high- 
est point of the city proper called merely 
after the street that runs over it — Clay Street 
Hilll — in other words, having no name at all. 
But perhaps this last circumstance is a favora- 
ble one. Possibly our citizens may take advan- 
tage of this circumstance, and supply the defi- 
ciency with one good name for a San Francisco 
hill. And how many present themselves ? Call 
it Lincoln Hill, perpetuating the memory of him 
who, for this glorious land, fulfilled the prophecy 
of the ages : one life shall be given for many^, 
{Unum pro multis dahitur caput Virg v. 815. 
Or, call it Pioneer Hill, honoring the men who 
put faith in California when to trust her was 
hard, and who sought her when to seek her was 
difficult. Or, call it Federal Hill, signifying pur 
adhesion to the great doctrine of the supremacy 
of the federal obligation over all local and 
narrower allegiances. It is not for the want of 
names, then, that our liills present such a pitia- 
ble nomenclature. But let us make the best of 
things. And what good use can we make of 
those incongruities ? Why, simply to cultivate 
in our pupils a sense of fitness, by calling atten- 
tion to these facts, which shock that sense, in 
other words, shocking the sense into life! 



THE HABIT OF CONNECTING CAUSE AND 
EFFECT. 

But, now, let us take up the other great pow- 
er — the habit of connecting cause and effect. 
Of its value I scarcely need speak. In the 
highest possible matters, the existence of this 
habit and the full indulgence of it will lead us 
up above all. second causes to the First. In 
matters of science this habit is so important that 
the strength of it almost alone decides the rank of 
itspossessor among philosophers and discoverers. 
But even in the world of business this habit 
strongly fixed is one of the surest guarantees 
of success. A patient exploration of causes, a 
skilful forecasting of efiects— a never being sat- 
isfied with phenomena, but always going behind 
them to their springs, and beyond them to their 
issues — this invaluable habit almost, in many in- 
stances, alone makes the merchant prince, while 
the absence of it makes the merchant beggar. 

DEVELOPING THE HABIT. 
The only question that remains, then, is, How 
can this habit be quickened in teacliing Cali- 



THE STUDY OP CALIFORNIA GEOGRAPHY. 



fornia geography ? The question is easily an- 
swered : — the pupil will acquire the habit if the 
teacher will indulge himself in it ; and by the 
teacher I mean either the living teacher or the 
text-book. But this is the great point — if the 
teacher will indulge himself in linking together 
cause and effect as he traverses the geographical 
field, the pupil will soon enough acquire the 
same excellent habit. I need hardly stop even 
to mention the obvious principle here involved 
— it is simply that of the imitative tendency of 
youth. But, now, what material can we use to 
this end? What classes of geographical facts 
admit of being thus traced to their causes and 
their effects in our teaching of California geog- 
raphy ? I will specify five : the names of places, 
the dimensions of certain political divisions, the 
existence of certain towns, the character of 
others, and the importance of others still. 

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES. 

We have already shown how these may be 
used to give life to the sense of fitness. But 
quite as frequently we may employ them in the 
way of showing the action of cause and effect. 
We teach the pupil, for example, the main facts 
respecting the American River. But we explain 
that the name was given because along its 
banks came into California the great immigra- 
tion of Americans. Or the pupil describes Cape 
Mendocino and the Bay of Monterey, and we 
trace the names back for him to viceroys of 
Mexico who fitted out early expeditions. Or in 
respect to the Bay of San Francisco and Solano 
County — we teach him that the former bears the 
name of St. Francis of Assisi, and the latter 
that of St. Francis of Sales ; and that the former 
name was given because that saint was the pa- 
tron of the religious order to which tlie early 
missionaries were attached. 

The counties of the southern part of the 
State have mostly Spanish names of Romish 
saints. This fact might lie in a child's mind as 
a mere fact, and do him but little good. But 
explain it, and you aid just so far in deepening 
his conviction of the necessary alliance of cause 
and effect. These names are those of the saints 
of Rome, because bestowed by missionaries of 
Rome, and they are found in their Spanish form 
because those missionaries came from Mexico. 
Had the northern counties in like manner been 
first occupied by Greek missionaries from St. 



Petersburg, the geographical localities id that 
direction would probably have borne the Rus- 
sian names of saints of the Greek communion. 
So, too, with the name California — we may do 
our pupils good by making them famiHar with 
the different explanations which have been given 
of it. According to the usual account, the name 
means the " country of the sweat-house," and 
was bestowed by early explorers on observing 
the practice of the Coast Indians of building 
themselves large oven-like huts in which to 
sweat themselves profusely. According to the 
other more recent explanation, the name means 
" Califia's country," and was bestowed by early 
navigators in honor of Queen Califia, the hero- 
ine of a romance, then very new and now very 
rare, with which they killed the time in their 
long sojourn on shipboard. 

And here, I would urge, is the proper place of 
history in connection with geography. Here, 
indeed, is a useful place even for fables and 
half-accredited history — provided only that they 
be clearly exhibited as such. Even such mate- 
rial, when it is introduced by way of accounting 
for, and showing the influence of, geographical 
facts, is well introduced. In other words, where 
the introduction of historical, or even tradi- 
tional material will serve our main purpose, viz., 
that of conducting the child's mind back to a 
cause or onward to an effect, I would say let 
such material be inserted. But the wisdom of 
introducing such matter in any other form seems 
highly questionable. Our histories do not con- 
tain long, independent chapters of geography, 
and I cannot see why our geographies should 
embrace long, independent chapters of history. 
Each may furnish at times a fact necessary to 
the proper understanding of the other^a key to 
some one of its darker chambers. But when 
we call for a key we do not require an entire 
hardware store of other implements at the same 
time I So our geographies containing long, in- 
dependent chapters of history seem to me to be 
misconceived. They entirely overdo the thing 
— which in its moderation would simply be to 
train a habit of connecting cause and effect by 
tracing the geographical fact just far enough in 
history for that purpose, and there stop. 

DIMENSIONS OP CEPwTAIN DIVISIONS. 

But, in the second place, we may use in an 
edifying manner the dimensions of the State and 



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THE STUDY OF CALIFORNIA GEOGRAPHY, 



of certain counties. As the names of places 
may be explained, so often may their areas. 
The child is frequently taught to wonder at, and 
perhaps glory in, the immense size of California. 
He is told that it extends over a latitude which 
on the Atlantic coast would measure from Mas- 
sachusetts to South Carolina, and that it is sec- 
ond only to Texas, which is supposed to embrace 
the area of five ordinary States! But gaping 
wonder, and glorying of the very vainest kind, 
are but dry results of instruction — especially 
when ends so much more substantial may be 
attained. Give the pupil the explanation of this 
vast area — which is found simply in the sparse- 
ness of tho population rendering it impractica- 
ble for a second State government to be sup- 
ported. In fact, the population of the State may 
in this manner be connected with its area, as a 
cause with its effect, and each remembereJ with 
greater ease in consequence. Facts, indeed — to 
use a homely illustration — are often like fish- 
hooks, easier picked up in the bunch than 
singly, easier carried when linked together by 
some cord of reason than unconnected. Thus, 
too, with some of the areas of counties. The 
great southern counties are mostly desert and 
uninhabited over large tracts. Hence arises a 
small population and no demand for a separate 
county organization. On the contrary, such a 
demand occurs as soon as popuiatioii becomes 
dense ; so that, for example, the county of San 
Franci.sco is at once the smallest and the most 
populous in the State. Thus the dimensions of 
political divisions as well as their names afford an 
opportunity of showing the connection of cause 
and effect, and thus training the pupil to make 
this connection for himself in other spheres than 
that of geography. 

THE EXISTENCE OF CERTAIN TOWNS. 

In tlie third place wo may use profitably the 
very existence of certain clusters of population. 
One of tho nentest examples for class use, which 
Cahfornia furnishes, is the town of Summersville, 
in Contra Costa County. Here is a town built 
up solely by its coal mines. In some other 
cases we can see the operation of several causes 
at once, in originating and propagating the 
growth of towns. The town of Facheco, in 
the same county, is a farming centre mostly, 
but also engages a little in shipping and manu- 
factures. But in Summersville, no, the town is 



an effect for which there is but one single cause, 
and that is the deposits of coal beneath it. Be- 
fore these, the town was not; after these, the 
town will not be ; but with these, the town num- 
bers more voters than any other place in the 
county. Thus we may often use the very ex- 
istence of a cluster of population, with good edu- 
cating power upon the child's habits of mind. 

PECULIAEITIES OF TOWNS. 

Then, in the fourth place, we may often ex- 
plain, in connection with a cluster of population, 
some peculiar character that it wears. Take, 
by way of illustrating this point, some one of the 
towns which we denominate suburban. It can 
serve but an ordinary purpose in the education 
of a child, to make bim familiar, in connection 
with a town like San Mateo, for example, with 
certain mere facts. That this town contains 
beautiful private residences, and highly orna- 
mented farms, and yet does not number any cor- 
responding source of wealth among its products, 
all this is valuable as tho material of knowledge. 
But, trace these facts back to their origin ; ex- 
plain this apparent inconsistenc\', by a reference 
to its source ; do this, and the mere knowledge 
of the child becomes a better thing — becomes 
wisdom. And this can be done easily. The 
explanation is already wrapped up to our hand, 
in the meaning of the word suburban, near the 
city. The wealth which appears in the town is 
the wealth of tho metropolis, carried, in pursuit 
of taste and comfort, a little beyond the city line, 
San Mateo has become a point of residence for 
wealthy citizens — men who need to live near tho 
city, since they still conduct business in it, but 
who do not require to live in the city, since their 
business has reached that point ihat it does not 
require very early attention in the morning, very 
late attention in the evening, or very constant 
attention every day. Thus we may exercise 
our pupils in accounting for tho pecuhar cliaracter 
of certain towns. 

TEE CITY OF SACEAAIENTO. 

Then, in tho last place, take, in reference to 
other centres of population, their great relative 
importance. The mind here naturally reverts to 
the cities of Sacramento and San Francisco. The 
pupil should of course learn, in respect to these 
two leading cities of the State, the great substan* 



THE STUDY OF CALIFORNIA GEOGRAPHY. 



tia] facts, those tacts -which bear to the import- 
ance of the places tho relation of details and 
tokens. But, should not the teacher teach, and 
the scholar learn, that the importance of these 
places is not accidental, but has its well-deter- 
mined causes, and what those causes are? "Will 
not this process actually deepen his knowledge, 
to say nothing of developing the habit of which 
we speak ? 

In respect to the city of Sacramento, the 
sources of its prosperity will not be difficult for 
the teacher to point out. It owes its prominence, 
manifestly, to its central position in the State ; 
to its position at the head of ordinary naviga- 
tion on the Sacramento River; to its place at the 
foot of American River valley; to the neighbor- 
hood of the richest gold mines in the State; to' 
the facilities for agriculture of the Sacramento 
valley in its vicinity; and to the progress of 
mining discovery and development in Nevada, 
Idaho, and Montana. In tha case of most of 
these causes, I must pass them with only this 
mere mention, making an exception, however, 
to some extent, of the last-mentioned. Observe, 
more closely, the character of tliis cause, the 
progress of mining discovery and development. 
Here we have an example of a cause less ob- 
vious, because locally more remote, and yet as 
powerful, perhaps, as almost any other. To an 
older pupil, the indication of a source of pros- 
perity like this — which he might easily have 
passed by, which has its seat in apparent acci- 
dent, rather than in nature, and which operates 
at a considerable distance — must prove quicken- 
ing and gratifying in an imusual degree. That 
it is a true source of prosperity, we may make 
entirely plain. The course of mining discovery 
and development has placed the foremost centres 
of mineral wealth at Washoe and Reese River. 
But, passengers and freight for these places, 
coming from the metropolis — and this includes 
the majority of both — almost necessarily change 
conveyance, and thus deposit a certain amount 
of wealth, at the head of ordinary navigation on 
the Sacramento River; in other words, at Sacra 
mento city. Suppose the history of profitable 
mining had been a little different. Suppose, 
instead of the Carson River mines, the great ones 
had been those of Walker River ; and, suppose, 
instead of Reese River, we had seen magnificent 
developments at Coso. What city would have 
felt the great impulse then? Not Sacramento, 
but Stockton ; not the head of ordinary naviga- 



tion on the Sacramento River, but on the San 
Joaquin. 

THE CITT OF BAN FRANCISCO. 

Let us glance at the city of San Francisco. 
Here the first sensation, as we contemplate the 
causes of its prosperity, is something akin to 
bewilderment at their multitude. But in such a 
multitude we find a good field to practise our 
pupils in the exercise of discrimination. And 
using this discrimination upon the sources of the 
greatness of the metropohs, they soon discover 
that although San Francisco has been aided by 
its evenness of chmate, and aided by the pro- 
ductiveness of the Bay counties, and aided by 
manufactures, it is yet essentially the child of 
commerce. She is the daughter of Neptune. 
Like Venice, she is the bride of the sea. The 
cradle that has rocked her into strength is the 
cradle of the deep, and Aphrodite not more truly 
than she sprang forth from the foam ! But 
among the commercial advantages of this city 
we find at once an important distinction. Some 
are from nature, and some are from man. Such 
distinctions as these I would have the pupil 
make, or the teacher make for him. In respect 
to the causes of things, he should of course, first 
of all, learu to believe in them, and in the possi- 
bility of unmasking them, and then make his 
entrance inte the region of them, find them by 
penetrating below the crust and surface of things. 
But after this he should acquire a great freedom 
of movement in the midst of them, dexterity in 
handhngthem, facility in dividing and classifying 
i them. 

This difference, then, appears among the 
commercial advantages of San Francisco — some 
are the fruit of Nature's bounty, and some of 
man's enterprise. 

On the natural advantages of the harbor of 
San Francisco, I have no limits to dwell. I can 
merely enumerate them. The harbor combines 
the two great advantages of approachableness 
and security. It is approachable (1) at all sea- 
sons. It does not lie in the path of periodical 
hurricanes, like tile harbor of Vera Cruz. It is 
approachable (2) for all vessels. The Golden 
Gate is ample in width and depth. It is ap- 
proachable (3) from both directions. Unlike 
Acapulco, for example, it is not only connected 
with foreign countries by the ocean, but with the 
far interior of the State by navigable bays and 



8 



THE STUDY OF CALIFORNIA GEOGRAPHY. 



rivers. It is approachable (4) with ordinary pre- ! 
caution. The channel at its mouth, unlike the I 
Columbia River, is not liable to sudden changes. 
And this, again, is due (and here see a cause 
behind a cause — a most useful example for a 
pupil to study) to the felicitous cu-cumstance 
that the Sacramento, like the Hudson, reaches 
tide-water before it reaches the ocean, and thus 
deposits its sediment — or makes an "over- 
slaugh," as we call it — far in the interior, and 
not at the Golden Gate. . Mor-jover, the harbor 
is a secure one. Vessels visiting it are secure 
(1) from grounding, since the bay — unlike the 
harbor of New London — is sufficiently deep. 
They may be secure (2) from collision, since the 
bay — unlike the harbor of Old London — is ample 
in width and length. And vessels are secure (3) 
from storms, since the bay is land-locked; (4) 
from dragging anchors, since the bottom affords 
good holding ground ; and (5) from loss or pros- 
tration of men by disease, since the water is good 
and the climate salubrious. These are some of 
the natural advantages of this harbor. 

But not a little has been done by man to im- 
prove upon Nature. Thanks to the enterprise 
of our Government and citizens, the city enjoys 
every facility for navigation of an artificial char- 
acter. These facilities extend to the guidance 
of vessels by light-houses, fog-bells, and buoys ; 
to the signalling of vessels by telegraph ; to the 
landing of goods by wharves and piers ; to the 
collection of customs ; to the care of seamen by 
hospitals. Bethels, and societies ; and to the de- 
fence of the harbor by forts and batteries. 

For the importance, therefore, of the great j 
cities of California, there are cogent reasons. 
They have grown great for good cause, and not 
by accident. And so with many other geogra- 
phical facts, and especially, as we have seen, ' 
with the names of some places ; with the dimen- | 
sions of others ; with the existence of otliers ; 
and with the peculiar character of others still. 
As we^^teach California geography, then, there is 



ample material upon which we may exercise our 
pupils in connecting cause and effect. 

CONCLUSION. 

But a single word remains to be added : aijd 
this is in answer to the question. How may the 
teacher conduct this work of training his class ? 
I answer that a text-book, specially prepared, 
would be the surest means. A book should ap- 
pear containing a full exhibition of the geogra- 
phy of the Pacific States. And this book should 
not only abound in facts, but in causes and con- 
gruities, clearly and constantly indicated. Such 
a book seems needed even for the lower end of 
education — even to inform our pupils in regard 
to the simplest facts concerning the coast. But 
such a book is further needed for the higher 
purposes of education, even for culture and de- 
velopment. We must believe more in education. 
We must believe that any power or habit what- 
soever can be educated. And we must act on 
our faith. We must choose among the great 
habits and instincts definitely and consciously, 
and set about definitely and consciously to de- 
velop those which we esteem important. Thus 
will we be educators indeed — drawers-out of the 
powers of the human mind. Thus will we take 
rank in spirit, if not in fame, with the Pestalozzis 
and the Arnolds. 

But, in the absence of prepared text-books, 
what are we to do ? There is but one course. 
We must supplement our common text-books 
with prepared material of our owu. In pre- 
paring this we will derive much assistance from 
the labors in this direction of a grammar master 
of this city, the result of which will be found in 
the Califorijia Teacher. The price bf such mate- 
rial, prepared by ourselves, will be labor and 
pains. And we will not begrudge it while we 
feel our responsibility as educators of the young 
— moulders of that nation from which so much 
is expected, the glorious Nation of the Future ! 



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